


Life is What You Bake It

by Quicksilver_Rain



Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Blackmail Is Probably Involved Somehow, Financing Your Boyfriend's Dreams via Hungry College Kids, Multi, Nonbinary Zalvetta, Other, POV Ashe, POV Markus, POV Thog, Polyamory, Zalvetta Knows Things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 06:12:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17893019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quicksilver_Rain/pseuds/Quicksilver_Rain
Summary: If anyone asked, Markus wouldn’t be able to say exactly how it happened. One second, he was trying to come to terms with the fact that Thog had lost his job, and the next, he was doing pipe-dream research on how to open a bakery with his girlfriend and her, frankly disconcerting classmate.She’d even made a list of goals in her notebook, which was actually incredibly endearing, for them to follow if they really wanted to go through with the whole thing.And usually, Ashe was the more level-headed one of the two of them, but for some reason, she really thought they could pull this off, come hell or high water and Markus suddenly understood what it meant to be the boring one in the relationship.





	Life is What You Bake It

**Author's Note:**

> This is another Tumblr Fic that I really liked and then rewrote for Reasons.
> 
> Yet another person loses their job, because either that or a (not so gentle) maiming, because I have exactly two settings (bad and worse, respectively)
> 
>  
> 
> (and honestly? Trashe is my OT3 and y'all can pry it from my cold, dead hands)

Thog, for the most part was nearly always grumpy in some manner, shape or form, which put off the vast majority of people he encountered on a day to day basis, but that Ashe found incredibly endearing, much like Markus’s propensity to crawl across her or Thog’s lap like an overgrown cat to sleep or cuddle whenever he was particularly stressed out. It only ever really became a concern when Thog started slamming around in the kitchen as if various baking implements contained therein had personally offended him, which, Ashe found when she got home from her part-time job as a receptionist at one of the kitchy, mom-and-pop hotels nearby, seemed to be what was currently happening, unless someone was attempting to steal their oven, which really, stranger things had happened.

And if it was Thog, it wouldn't be too difficult to figure out what was causing his mood, even if it was bad enough that he was waging war in the kitchen:

After all, perhaps it was too hot out to make a proper pie crust, or maybe the transmission in the Nova was threatening to drop again, or the girl across the hall (not-so-lovingly-nicknamed Dont) had tried to start shit about the quality of Thog’s grandmother’s chocolate chip cookie recipe again.

Actually, what was throwing Ashe off right now, was the fact that Thog wasn’t supposed to be home in the first place.

Usually, in the mornings, Thog would drive Ashe to work, drop Markus off at school, and then go to his job at a loan firm until the evening, seeing as how he was the only one that worked full-time and already had a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management or some other tangentially related field.

On a normal day, Ashe would return home after her shift to an empty house, change into something more comfortable than the pencil skirt she was currently wearing, and meet Markus for lunch on campus before he went off to his own part-time job doing data input in a small, windowless office near the airport. The didn’t usually spend much time together unless it was the middle of the evening or the weekend, and even then, Thog sometimes got called into work to take care of various emergencies.

Ashe poked her head into the kitchen, half-expecting to find that they were being burgled and instead, found Thog angrily whipping together something that looked like chocolate cake, but might have been brownies, mumbling to himself as he worked. There was flour streaking his hair and a hand-print on his slacks and cocoa powder on the sleeve of his shirt, which was also about par for the course when Thog decided to bake his feelings.

She frowned, wondering why he was home so early and what brought this on before calling a faint, “hey Thog,” into the kitchen in greeting. She paused there, waiting for an answer, and then continued when none came, “is everything alright?”

Silence answered for a moment, and Ashe started unbuttoning her dress-shirt while she waited for Thog to find his words.

He always did, in the end, even if it took a while.

It was a few more seconds, but finally, Thog sighed, dumping the contents of the mixing bowl into a glassware pan. He pushed it into the oven with a deceptive amount of care before finally answering with, “apparently, the company is downsizing.” He sighed and began trying to brush the flour off his slacks. “I dunno how they’re deciding who gets to pack their shit up and go, but I’m one of them.”

He stopped there, rubbing at the bridge of his nose for a moment before taking what Ashe assumed was a steadying breath. Then, he turned and began washing his baking implements like he needed something to do with his hands and hadn’t summed up a decade long career at a loan firm he helped build in all of two sentences.

They stood in silence for a couple moments, Thog washing his mixing bowl while Ashe was torn between staying and going to change.

Thog must have noticed her dilemma, because he sighed, putting the mixing bowl on the counter to dry with a sort of finality that almost surprised her. "It's fine," he announced, turning to lean against the counter. He ran his hands through his hair for a few seconds before adding, “I just got back from the office,” as if that was what Ashe was waiting for.

Ashe moved closer, hopping up onto the counter beside him. “Are you okay?”

Thog heaved another sigh, which Ashe thought was reasonable, actually, and crossed his arms, tilting his head to properly look at her. “I came home to…” He paused and gestured at the brownies, which was really all Ashe needed as far as explanation went, because Thog was a stress-baker and she imagined his emotional state wasn’t reflecting its usual placidity at the moment. “…Print off some resumes.”

Ashe watched him lift his shoulder, looking a mix between irritated and tired and she scooted over until she could press against his side. “Yeah, but are you okay, Thog.” And while Thog wasn’t usually particularly forthcoming with his feelings, Ashe was worse, but still, she figured she would ask, because she would want him to do the same, even if she’d probably get angry and lock herself in the spare room for a while to cool down if it was her.

“Yeah,” Thog bit out after another long moment of silence, “Moren says he can give me some work at his shop until I find something else to do, and we’ll have my severance pay until then, so it’ll be fine.”

Ashe decided not to voice her professional opinion that it was most certainly not fine and hummed in something like agreement, resting her head on Thog’s shoulder. “I should go change. I have class soon.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, steadying her as she hopped off the counter and accepted the kiss she pressed against his mouth before Ashe began making her way to their room. “Yeah, I’ll give you a ride to the campus.” He paused, checked the timer on the oven, and followed Ashe through the apartment. “I gotta go see who’s hiring anyway.”

##

Three hours later, after her Criminal Justice and Forensics lectures, Ashe was sitting with Markus at one of the tables near the library, watching him scribble fervently in his Advertising Psychology notebook while she tried to figure out how to break the news to him without ruining their shared lunch hour.

Not that either of them was actually eating anything, but still.

Eventually, Ashe decided that veiled meanings and sugar coating weren’t going to make the situation any easier and reached across the table to grab Markus’s free hand, watching fondly as he lifted it up to press his cheek against her fingers.

“Thog lost his job this morning.”

Markus looked up from whatever he was writing, the ink of his pen leaching blue onto the paper. “What? I thought he was their senior employee or whatever?” He looked politely confused, but if the way he was chewing on his lower lip was any indicator, he was already getting ready to launch himself into a worried mess.

Ashe shrugged. “He said they were downsizing.”

Not that that was a good reason for them to randomly fire someone that was basically a partner in the business, but that was all she had.

Markus frowned, eyebrows knitting. “That’s bullshit?”

Ashe rolled her eyed, unable to come up with anything but, “you’re telling me.” She let go of Markus’s hand in favour of digging around in her bag to fish out the massive Tupperware of brownies Thog had given her before they left the apartment. “Thog says we need to go get more bulk flour soon. He was slamming around the kitchen when I got home.”

Markus gestured at the Tupperware and rested his chin in his hand. “I can see that. Is he alright?”

She shrugged. “I guess. He’ll prolly lock himself in the kitchen until he gets another full time job, though.” She paused to break one of the brownies in half. “He says Moren’s letting him help out at the antiques shop, but…” Ashe lost thread of what she was saying, spotting one of her classmates swanning around the other side of the courtyard, very probably looking for trouble.

They noticed her, as well, or perhaps felt Ashe’s staring, and glided over to their table like they were on a mission, dodging around people as they moved and eventually coming to a halt beside Markus, tilting their head like they’d heard the entire conversation. If Ashe was a betting woman, she would be willing to put money down that they hadn’t but knew what she and Markus were talking about anyway.

Somehow.

Only, Ashe wasn’t a betting woman, and even if she was, she certainly wouldn’t bet against Zalvetta, of all people. Especially if it meant that she’d end up owing them some kind of favour. She’d never met someone with as many connections as they had, even if she was nearly positive that half of them involved blackmail.

Still, They were nice enough, even if they always looked like they knew some sort of forbidden knowledge and were just dying to share it.

At a price.

Zalvetta looked between Ashe and Markus for a moment, looking like they were perhaps debating whether or not they wanted to join the conversation, before sitting on the space of table between her and Markus. “Talking about the boyfriend?”

Markus frowned, because no matter how many times Zalvetta displayed their uncanny ability to know all things, no matter what they were, he simply refused to accept that Zalvetta was either psychic, some kind of modern Sherlock Holmes, or abusing the absolute hell out of some obscure form or magic not available to mere mortals.

“How’d you know?”

Zalvtta crossed their legs and studied Markus from their perch on the table, smiling like they had a secret. “You two get this look on your faces whenever you’re talking about him. Like how the roommate looks when he sees one of those stray cats that look like they hate everything.” They pause, shrug, and rest their chin in their hand. “He knows they don’t want to come home with him, but he tries anyway.”

Markus snorted, though Ashe wasn’t sure if it was in amusement of offense, and Ashe laughed despite herself.

It was, after all, a fairly accurate comparison.

Zalvetta smiled, snatching the other half of Ashe’s brownie off the lid of the Tupperware she’d put it on. “The baked goods’re a dead giveaway, too.” They took a bite from the brownie and closed their eyes in something like bliss. “These should be illegal.”

Ashe raised her eyebrows. “Why?”

Zalvetta blinked and mirrored her expression, though they looked more irritated and disbelieving than Ashe thought was entirely warranted. “Are you kidding me?”

Markus put down his pen, abandoning his attempts to finish copying his notes. He brushed his fingers though his hair and rubbed at his temple like he was getting a headache. “No?”

They laughed. “Aww, you two are so spoiled. How sweet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Markus asked, wrinkling his nose in offense.

“It means,” Zalvetta sighed, looking a mix of amused and faux-irritated about the whole thing. “Either your boyfriend made several deals with various devils or he got bored and figured out how to turn the concept of sin into baked goods.”

Ashe and Markus shared a confused look. It was true that Thog did most of the cooking since they’d started dating, mostly because he was the only one that didn’t set the fire alarm off with any regularity. The actual meals he made were always good, and the baking more so, but the’d both just assumed that that was the sort of thing that happened when one was all but raised in various kitchens by an army of pastry chefs.

Zalvetta rolled their eyes at the two of them, like they couldn’t believe how stupid she and Markus were and reached into the Tupperware for another brownie, tearing it in half before whistling sharply at a random passerby.

A tall, lumbering, giant of a man jumped at the sound, looking around like he wasn’t sure if Zalvetta was trying to get his attention. He pointed at himself when they whistled again, acquiescing to their demands and approaching the table, looking perhaps a little wary.

Which, honestly, was pretty smart of him, all things considered.

“Eat this.”

A silence stretched between Zalvetta and the newcomer, who looked between Ashe and Markus for a moment before crumbling under the weight of Zalvetta’s stare and hesitantly taking the proffered confection. They waited until the stranger had taken a bite before holding up the other half of the brownie. “Five bucks, friendo.”

Then, they held out their free hand and waited.

Markus sputtered in surprise when, after a few seconds of thoughtful chewing, the giant shoveled the rest of the brownie in his mouth and began sorting through various pockets. Finally, he fished out a crumpled five-dollar bill from his coat, passing it to Zalvetta in exchange for the other half of the brownie.

Zalvetta waved the man away, calling a cheery, “tell your friends!” at his retreating back. The man disappeared into the Physical Sciences building, and Zalvetta passed the fiver to Ashe, smiling beatifically. “Honestly? You should start selling these. You’d make so much bank.” They gestured around at the streams of people trying to get to their next class as if to illustrate their point.

Ashe folded her arms, trying not to be smitten with the idea as she tried to remember if Thog had ever been even remotely interested in that sort of thing.

Markus must have been thinking something along the same lines, because he began winding his fingers through the ends of his hair, looking pensive. “How would we even pull that off?”

Zalvetta shoved another brownie in their mouth and tucked their hair behind their ears, looking at between them like they thought Ashe and Markus were the stupidest pair of individuals they’d ever had the misfortune of meeting. “Well,” they started, sounding exasperated and amused at the same time, “you can’t do anything without capital, can you?”

##

If anyone asked, Markus wouldn’t be able to say exactly how it happened. One second, he was trying to come to terms with the fact that Thog had lost his job, and the next, he was doing pipe-dream research on how to open a bakery with his girlfriend and her, frankly disconcerting classmate.

She’d even made a list of goals in her notebook, which was actually incredibly endearing, for them to follow if they really wanted to go through with the whole thing.

And usually, Ashe was the more level-headed one of the two of them, but for some reason, she really thought they could pull this off, come hell or high water and Markus suddenly understood what it meant to be the boring one in the relationship.

Of course, it was less, ‘let’s open a bakery!’ and more, ‘Thog’s gonna stress-bake for the next three months anyway. We should sell everything and see what happens,’ but the idea was still there, alluring and surprisingly within reach, if everything went according to plan.

And, well, they were dating a man that paradoxically stress-baked but didn’t like sweets, and there was no way Markus was going to eat his weight in confections, no matter how much he loved Thog, so it wasn’t actually that bad of an idea, all things considered.

Even Zalvetta seemed confident that between the three of them, four, if they counted Thog, they’d be able to pull it off, and really, Zalvetta was nothing if not persuasive. Mostly, though, they just took up table space, occasionally musing aloud and selling the remainder of the brownies to passersby, before saying something about meeting their roommate for dinner and slinking off with promises to call in a couple of favours, leaving Ashe and Markus with a hundred twenty dollars and an empty Tupperware.

Ashe had passed Markus the money as he got up to catch the metro to the airport, telling him to open another account to put it in before he came home later that evening.

Markus had been able to run down to the bank during his break, opening another account with only a few minutes of frustration. Everyone had access to it, and if Thog asked, he and Ashe would probably tell him it was for emergencies, which, if Markus was honest, was probably what the funds would be used for anyways.

But if everything went according to plan?

Well, Markus tried not to get his hopes up.

It was nearing eight o’clock by the time he finally got home, due to the incompetence of his cube-mates. One day, he was going to throttle Ballast McGee, and it would totally be worth the jail time. But that was for later, because he wasn’t sure their rent payment could handle having two people unemployed at the moment.

In the end, Markus kicked open the door to their apartment with a bag of fast food in his hand instead of eating dinner with Ashe and Thog like he usually did. He sighed, ambling over to the couch, where Thog was sitting with a book. He leaned down to press a kiss against Thog’s mouth and motioned for him to lift up his hands, allowing Markus to more comfortably flop down over his boyfriend’s legs. He dropped the bag on the ground for ease of access, digging absently in it for something edible that wasn’t a ketchup packet.

“Hey Thog?” Markus grumbled once he’d managed to acquire his burger. He grabbed the bag and pulled it up onto the couch, taking a bite of his burger while he searched for fries. Thog’s hand settled between Markus’s shoulders in something like affection and he sighed around the mouthful of burger he was trying to enjoy. “I’m sorry the people at the firm are assholes and wouldn’t know good business practice if it attacked them in a dark alleyway.”

Thog laughed at this, like it was surprised out of him and Markus jumped despite himself. “Thanks.”

Of course, Markus wasn’t sure if he was being thanked for the sympathy or for the fries Thog was currently stealing from his food bag. He wasn’t mad either way, so he supposed it didn't matter. Markus certainly wasn’t going to bitch his boyfriend out about food thievery when the guy had already had the day from hell. Besides, Markus wasn’t going to eat all his fries anyway.

They sat like that for a long time, and Markus didn’t really remember eating the rest of his food, or falling asleep, or Ashe appearing in the room, suggesting that they all go to bed. He remembered waking up, though, to the sound of Thog’s alarm on his phone like he usually did, and Thog trying to figure out how to get out of bed without disturbing anyone while Ashe hogged the blankets.

It was funny, really, how little things changed.

##

Things happened fast after that, much faster than Ashe expected them to, actually.

It felt like one moment, Thog was telling her that he’d lost his job, and the next, she was being approached by random people asking if she had any baked goods for sale.

And that was weird, because she wasn’t sure how they even knew to approach her of all people.

Of course, Ashe would be the first person to admit that she wasn’t difficult to spot in a crowd, even with the current trend in pastel hair colours, but honestly there was no reason for the Art Majors to know they could find her skulking around the Physical Science building, clear on the opposite side of the campus if they got a yen for the confection of the day.

For real, though.

She was even more vaguely disconcerted when, after a week of selling whatever various pastries, confections and other baked goods, people started hanging around her and Markus’s usual table by the library, waiting for one or both of them to show up with their wares.

And honestly?

Selling baked goods on the side should not have been such a ludicrous business venture.

They were making far too much money, and it was making this whole Bakery thing look viable,

Thog, for what it was worth, didn’t even seem to notice that everything he was baking was disappearing en masse, especially on Mondays, and if Ashe was honest, he probably had other things to worry about than what was happening with the baked goods he wasn’t eating.

It was over three months before they, or rather, she, Markus and Zalvetta, spoke about the possibility of Thog opening a bakery again. It was a conversation which was heralded by the latter’s appearance at her and Markus’s table, pushing through the crowd of people trying to buy snacks. They shoved the Tupperware of lavender and whipped honey macarons Markus was selling aside and flopped down onto the table, propping their head in their hand and smiling at Ashe in a way that reminded her of feral wolves.

“So,” they started pulling out the word for a few seconds, before continuing, “guess what.”

Ashe finished trading a devil’s food cupcake with brown sugar buttercream frosting from her own Tupperware for a five-dollar bill and looked over at Zalvetta. “What’s that?”

Zalvetta smiled wider and it made Ashe think about foxes and wolves. “~I might or might not know someone that can help you~” they sing-songed, reaching behind them for one of Markus’s macarons, cashing in on the unspoken deal they’d made with Ashe and Markus.

Free samples for life in exchange for various favours and assistances.

And actually, there were much worse things Zalvetta could cash in a favour for.

Markus reached over the table to grab at Zalvetta’s shoulder, forcing them to shift to regard him properly. “Help how?”

Zalvetta’s smile would have been innocent, if not for the fact that Ashe was certain they were up to something. They batted Markus’s hand way and sat up properly, taking a bite of their macaron. “I said,” they paused, probably for dramatic effect, “that I might or might not know a guy who knows a guy who may or may not be willing to rent out a fully stocked kitchen space close to campus for an absurdly low price, provided the renter doesn’t mind there being an eccentric scientist type living in the apartment above it.”

And, well, that was how Ashe and Markus found themselves standing with Zalvetta in front of a cute looking storefront that might have once been some kind of coffee shop, with a red and white striped awning and large front windows after they’d finished selling their pastries the next day.

Ashe put her hands on her hips and stared at the place contemplatively. “This is nice.”

Markus nodded in something that looked like begrudging agreement and pulled off his sunglasses. “I guess so, yeah.”

Zalvetta grinned at the pair of them. “So apparently, the roommate’s weird… guardian… person… guy…” They waved a hand as if the phrase escaped them. “...Hasn’t been able to get anyone to rent this place for more than a few weeks because the guy that owns the apartment upstairs keeps-” A loud crash interrupted whatever explanation Zalvetta was going to give them, and they all watched as the window facing the sidewalk was thrown open, allowing a cloud of black smoke and the smell of something melting to escape from inside the apartment, shortly followed by a large, red-haired man.

He fell onto the fire escape with another loud crash, coughing once or twice and looking put out. “Note to self, buy cooling fans,” he less said to himself and more shouted for the entire street to hear.

Ashe glanced at Zalvetta and Markus, who looked amused and vaguely concerned respectively, before calling a vaguely worried, “hey there,” up to the man.

The redhead startled, apparently surprised someone was there to witness his goings on. “Oh, hi there!”

He waved excitedly at them and Markus laughed from beside her. “Does this happen often, buddy?”

“Sometimes,” he called back down, smiling brilliantly, running his hand over his face and covering it with something that looked alarmingly like soot. “I try to keep things quiet, but sometimes The Science has a mind of its own.”

“The Science?” Ashe asked, looking over at Zalvetta for confirmation that she hadn’t just experienced a very specific auditory hallucination.

They shrugged. “The roommate says he’s some kind of government contractor or something. Lots of robots and computers up there, from what I hear.”

##

Markus would have though that Kier would be the death blow that put Ashe off the whole bakery thing, but he was wrong, probably because Thog’s new building-mate had offered to make some espresso machines in his spare time, like some kind of helpful, possibly crazy caffeine fairy.

This was why, Zalvetta, and their fabled roommate were standing in the laughably cheap space with paint buckets and rollers and a small army of Stagecraft students on a Saturday morning when he could have been sleeping. Kier was there, too, in the kitchen area, elbow deep in wires with express instructions not to get within ten feet of any of the Theatre Majors, for fear of what would happen when an unstoppable force crashed into an immovable object.

Ashe was in charge of keeping Thog busy for the day, so that he didn’t question where Markus was, and that mostly entailed dragging him to the bulk grocery store because they’d run out of flour and sugar, again, and being otherwise irritatingly underfoot until Markus returned. All while Markus was stuck painting an entire building for what Zalvetta’s roommate referred to as ’the funzies’.

He sighed and began loading up his roller while the Stagecraft students started pulling up the old laminate flooring.

##

It was nearly another month of damned near ceaseless working before they had anything to show for it, but eventually the walls were painted and counters and floors were installed, the kitchen was cleaned, the appliances were installed, and the dining area was furnished by a couple of Interior Design students that probably owed Zalvetta an array of favours for something or other.

At this point, Ashe was honestly too afraid to ask.

Ashe had put up fliers in the Culinary Arts building, asking for the students studying to become Pastry Chefs to apply to be assistants when the bakery finally opened. They wouldn’t be making much, but Ashe had sat through several meetings with the Head of the Culinary Department to make sure they’d at least be earning hours toward their degrees, and there was already a stack of resumes waiting to be looked through in her bag.

Markus had recruited a couple of Graphic Design majors he was friendly with to design a logo for the business, which had involved a lot of yelling about puns and colours before they actually made any headway. Then they’d spent a few more weeks tweaking and scrapping and redesigning before they came up with something everyone was satisfied with.

They filled out all the paperwork for the licenses together, deciding to leave it for last, so as not to spoil the surprise, even though Zalvetta insisted they knew someone in the Health Department that would push the paperwork through without Thog’s signatures.

That was altogether a little too illegal for Ashe and Markus’s tastes, but they appreciated the gesture.

Sort of.

Still, illegalities aside, it came together, eventually, and much easier than it maybe should have.

##

It was no surprise that Thog fought tooth and nail when Ashe told him he wasn’t allowed to drive , randomly, one Sunday, looking cagey as hell.

Still, he eventually acquiesced, even if it was less an acquiescence and was more a full-body tackle that threw him off his feet and into the back seat of the Nova courtesy of Markus . Somehow, neither one of the got a concussion out of the deal and apparently, Thog's significant others collectively decided that this was a sign that things were going to be okay, even if Thog did proceed to spend the entire drive to the bakery grumbling quietly from where he was being pinned to the upholstery by Markus, who refused to sit properly, damnit.

When they got to the bakery, which was perhaps appropriately named ‘Cinn,’ Markus climbed out of the car, leaving Thog to clamber out behind him, thinking that he was going to have a catch in his shoulder from being pressed awkwardly into the seat.

He straightened then, crossing his arms and eyeing the building for long enough that Ashe and Markus stopped smiling and glanced at each other, smiles faltering, wondering if perhaps they’d fucked up.

Which, really, they could have.

A whole business generally wasn't considered to be an appropriate gift as far as most people were concerned.

Finally, after letting them stew for another moment, Thog spoke, ending the uncomfortable silence and startling both Ashe and Markus into jumping like rabbits. “I was wondering when y’all were gonna bring me over to see this place.”

Markus regained his ability to speak first, looking away from Ashe to glare in Thog’s direction instead. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Thog, for his part glanced back at Markus, tilting his head to look over at him properly. “Sorry you had to find out this way, but y'all aren’t as sneaky as you think you are.”

Ashe shook her head, maybe pouting a little. “Are too.”

“Honey,” Thog sighed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, because that would probably just upset her. “You left your checklist on the kitchen table a few months ago.” He eyed Ashe for a handful of seconds and then pointed at another shop further down. “That and Moran’s shop is literally down the street. I don’t even want to know how y'all didn’t notice.”

Their little blond friend had noticed, at least, which was why the only thing Thog was waiting for was his license to come in the mail sometime next week. Realistically, they could be up and running by the end of the month, if the postal service didn't let him down.

He looked away from Ashe to the shop in question, where Moren was, indeed arranging antiques in the window display.

Moren waved, smiling brightly, and Thog lifted his hand to wave back.

“Why’d you think I was baking so much?”

From beside him, Markus stomped his foot, looking torn between exasperation and mild anger. “You knew?”

Ashe didn’t seem to be faring much better, because she shouted an irritated, “why didn’t you tell us?” in his general direction, and was probably doing that thing where she scrunched up her nose like an angry kitten.

Thog lifted a shoulder. “Y’all were so excited about surprising me that I figured I’d let you have your fun.”

Silence settled between them again and Thog decided that he was tired of waiting of waiting for Ashe and Markus to get over their perceived betrayal, mostly because he was pretty sure he'd be waiting all day if he left it up to them. With that decided, Thog reached over to pluck his keys from Ashe’s hands, ambling over to the front door and unlocking it with a satisfying click.

He stood in the doorway, looking around the space until he was satisfied that it wasn't going to fall down or something, which was reasonable, since Kier Fiyore was living upstairs. God knew he and Moren spent a couple hours a week hovering around out on the sidewalk, trying to figure out if they could call the fire department or the paramedics or both.

It was a whole thing.

Still, questionable structural integrity aside, the bakery, Thog concluded, was nice. There were, of course, a few clashing design choices and a couple things he wouldn’t have chosen for himself here and there. It was comforting, though, and he could tell there was a hell of a lot of love put into the dark stained floors and light coloured walls and bare bulbs that were hanging over several small but sturdy tables.

It was nice, actually.

Really nice.

Certainly, one of the best gifts he’d ever received, even if the surprise was pretty much ruined from the get-go.

Thog turned to say as much to Ashe and Markus and found that his significant others were still standing out by the car, watching him with varying levels of irritation on their faces. He sighed, opening the door and stepping back out onto the sidewalk and mentally preparing to try and sweet-talk them around.

“Well? Are y’all coming or are you gonna stand there all day?”

**Author's Note:**

> Other Titles for this Fic included:
> 
> Whisk Taker  
> Sieving the Dream  
> and  
> All You Knead is Love


End file.
